Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Lilia Artis, Moeuhane Sandalwood, and myself set up our Winter inspired installation inside the Palazzo of Lost Town (on the sim LAND OF GLORY). It's called "Idus December: Night of the Winter Creatures." A surprise followed. Recently, Veyot made a charming film of our exhibit “Idus December: Night of the Winter Creatures”. If you visit Lost Town, make sure to explore. The creators of the city, Sivi and Akilae, have invited several artists to participate in this Winterfest. A major exhibit called “invisible People” by Rebeca Bashly weaves thru the streets, where textures render the figures transparent when viewed at certain angles.

Lilia, Moe and I worked together on this installation. We took our idea from Rebeca Bashly's exhibit 'Invisible People', and chose to play on that theme, asking ourselves, who then, are the 'visible' people? We each interpreted this in our own way, and brought our vision together in the build. For myself, I've written my viewpoint here:

STORY

Invisible people: including the homeless, or people with debilitating fears, hermits, and other estranged citizens live in the shadows of the city. They are invisible either by choice or circumstance. The rest of the citizens remain in the 'light'. We are the nobles, living by the dictates of our particular cultures. Cultures within cultures, we all do the same thing, we single out those who do not fit. Displaying ourselves in the light, laughing at the circus around us, believing ourselves to be exempt from it, we rarely perceive the 'snowballs' coming our way, and when reality hits at given moments, it can leave us chilled.

I could not make an LM to take you directly to the Palazzo, as the sim appears to have a forced landing point on the opposite side of the city. If you look on the mini map, the Palazzo is on the north rim, a little bit West of center. You can't miss the glow inside! If you open the SL map, type in LAND OF GLORY for the sim, and you will arrive to Lost Town.

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Beginning tomorrow, Sunday, Eupalinos Ugajin's group exhibit "Moving Islands" will open on the sim LEA20 in the Second Life virtual world. I will be one of the participating artists. Most of the 'rafts' are scripted so that they interact on the mirror slick ocean (and in some cases below the ocean's surface). I went by to see how the sim looked with the rafts in place, which is quite astounding. Derek Michelson and Oberon Onmura wrote scripts which many participants used. The exhibit will evolve over its run from now into December.

Monday, October 14, 2013

Darkrodin Pier leads up to the cliff side neighborhood of Medusa Locks.

For a year, the
pier had no structures on it, except for traces of ruins and boardwalks from
previous developments. Once a home to the Visitor Center, gardens (most notably
Herolds’ Knoll: a hill top garden which exploded like a volcano, leaving the
ocean pocket where a plaque commemorates the Prim Mausoleum which used to stand
here), the remaining fragments of land now support the extended village seen in
the photo. Built in one day, with a meagre prim allowance, my dream of having an
urban neighborhood finally comes to light.

Houses surround Darkrodin Plaza, a small open space which has seenmany alterations in its years of existence.

The houses are
only two prims: A hollowed phantom cube, and a roof. By necessity, this
neighborhood has to be minimal in prim usage, as the sim’s resources are
stretched. Last night and again this morning, I worked on ideas how to ‘furnish’
the interiors with no more than 1 prim each. There are two approaches I’m
currently working on. The first is simply to make the interior walls of an
interesting architectural texture and brought down to 50 % opacity. Therefore,
from the interior, you look onto the neighboring views, veiled in a pleasant
composition. The effect comprises multiple layers in some locations. The second
approach is to make animated panels using Prim Generator. This way, I can
produce several objects using only one prim count. The sculpt can then be
pulled to conform to the interior measurements of the house.

I also placed a
gift temporarily in one of the squares.

About the textures:
Most of them are what I sketched roughly of a Venetian façade in charcoal.
Taking this into Photoshop, a couple variations help to give variety to the
pier. I superimposed in some areas of the texture an African charcoal drawing I’d
made a few months ago. Being roughly drawn in charcoal, the styles complement
each other.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

I purchased a statue by SL artist Maddomxc (based on the RL work of Mazzieri) for Maze Gardens. The luminous golden figure holds a rotating globe in the left hand, and leans back with all the weight of the world in his/her thoughts. I'm not sure if the model is male or female. I found the ambiguity particularly fitting for a public fountain, where visitors will see him/her as they choose. On Google Translate, the Italian is rendered as 'Ram of the Heart'. I don't know the story behind this title, nor am I sure if that was a correct translation. For the present, it remains a mystery to me, while the artwork itself shines warmly in its new home along the North Shore edge of Maze Gardens.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Yesterday, I awoke with a new idea for my virtual
city. Since I’d sculpted a miniature group of buildings in the Plateau of Man
Park the day before, I wanted to carry on the theme of more miniature
groupings. This comes naturally to me. I grew up building miniature cities in the
yard, and when later in life, I had no yard, I would draw cities on long rolls
of paper, or sculpt ceramic buildings for aquariums. So why not do the same in
Second Life?

MEDUSA LOCKS NEIGHBORHOOD

It didn’t take me long to decide where to put this next mini
city. The Medusa Locks neighborhood in the cliffs provides all sorts of ancient
nooks and crannies for the unexpected. The area is riddled with convoluted
paths, boring into the walls of the hillside as if planned by an earthworm. These
short tunnels and little rooms effect a porous shell around the inner Library
of Darkrodin, which is the large space at the core inside the hill. The area
around an outdoor ramp linking two levels of the Locks seemed an ideal site. With
a virtual trowel at hand (Prim Generator), and a large bristled paintbrush
(Photoshop), I set to work.

FROGGY

The frog was taken from one of my past exhibits called
Second Libations. She was a puppeteer in that show, and remains so in the
Locks. Her fellow puppeteers were photographed so I did not have to use large
numbers of prims in the construction of this sculpture. The strings from the
handheld handle do not attach to people or animals however. The characters in
this story are the buildings. The puppeteer manipulates the city
itself, its structures, its roads, its vegetation.

CERAMIC CITY

As mentioned above, I used to build ceramic cities for
gardens. I used a photo of one city I built in RL, and adjusted it in
Photoshop. It is the city image you see on the background wall of the
installation. To bring more depth to the flat texture, I used Prim
Generator to make some buildings come out at us in 3D.

VISIT

THE MEDUSA LOCKS NEIGHBORHOOD
In the center of the above photo, you will see a couple glowing areas in the seawall.
The one most central is the Frog Puppeteer. You cannot miss her, she is to the left
of a ship which juts out from this seawall.

If you’d like to visit the location, it is in the city of
Accentaury (the ACC Alpha sim). This is visible from the ocean while looking
toward the Medusa Locks neighborhood. It is easy to find… a complex seawall of
buildings topped with a domed structure as seen in the photo. The Frog
Puppeteer is fairly central, and situated near the ship that protrudes from the seawall.

Monday, August 26, 2013

Colorful procession on the ancient stairs leading up to the Plateau of Man Park.

After the “Lost Alphabet” installation closed a month ago, I
decided to pull some of the scenes from inventory into the city of Accentaury.
Originally, rezzed deep in the ocean, and accessed through a gaping hole in the
Library floor (which has since been closed), I began moving them up to the
surface of the Plateau of Man Park, as well as the Spilt Gold Corridor below
the Studio of Builds Arena.

This gives a sense of drama to the Park, and though these
scenes were originally designed to fit my story “Lost Alphabet”, I have
reworked the arrangement of the characters so that visitors can deduce their
own stories. Whatever the interpretation, there is a great deal of action which
lends vitality to an otherwise tranquil space.

Women with birdcage skirts, run in the Park toward the Wash.

Recently I’ve made several large changes to the sim. The
parading people at the Spilt Gold Corridor lead to the Lost Alphabet Wash
Fountain (see earlier post), which in turn gave me ideas for the interior of
the House of ACCentaury, the construction of the Black Gate which visually
frames the carousel, and finally, reworking the game room which is also on the
Park grounds. I’m on a building spree. Who knows what tomorrow brings.

THE BLACK GATE

Textures in the upper section of the Black Gate.

This tower was designed to visually frame the old carousel
(when viewed from inside the House of ACCentaury), the carousel being among the
oldest structures remaining from the Park’s early days in 2010. Four new
textures applied to the Black Gate are among six that I am including in a hunt
gift for the upcoming Renaissance Hunt in September. I always apply new
textures I make for a hunt onto a building or statue in the vicinity of the House of ACCentaury, so that the hunters can get an
idea how they appear on a build.

THE GAME ROOM

Remodeled interior of the Game Room, including balcony plantings,

an enclosed garden (unseen in this photo, is behind the chair) and the artworks of

though the game table is a lower prim mesh version of the original sliding puzzle.

Warning, the game is addictive.

The sliding puzzle table is in the western pavilion of the
Caravan Tent arcade. You can find this on the north side of the Park. I just
installed elegant photo art by Lilia Artis there, which transformed the space.
Wanting to further it’s unique qualities, I also added plantings, and squared
off a small hedged garden. I always prefer Midday light, but when viewing the
chorus in the Lost Alphabet Wash fountain, I suggest also setting Midnight
view. The rising mists offer mysterious effects.

The particle mist machine gives atmospheric effects no matter the time

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Some chapters of
my “Lost Alphabet” installation that had shown earlier this year at La Citta
Perduta, can be seen in both Sparquerry, and ACCentaury (ACC Alpha). Two days
ago, I began adding parts of the Exodus, Multi-Species-Chorus, and Pied Piper
chapters to the old reflecting pool on the Plateau of Man, as seen in the photo
above. Having placed the ship of refugees in the center of the pool, I noticed
that the arcade behind it was quite similar in color, blending it with the
background to such a degree that the ship was barely visible. Then I decided to
add a wall of water, not only highlighting the boat, but adding some lively
animation to the calm surrounds. One thing led to another, and before long, I
had a flood on my hands. The concept of the lost alphabet takes a new variation
here: it is washed away. You can literally see this, by the sheets of As,
Bs, and Cs, churning in the waves.

The arcade
(Puppet Theater) has more to see if you follow behind the waterfall that spills
from its façade. Walk along the back corridor that will lead you to another
section of the city along the North Shore.

Friday, August 16, 2013

The group exhibit "House of Memories", organized by Lilia Artis and Moeuhane Sandalwood opens today at 2 pm SLT. They invited Almut Brunswick and myself, to participate. We all created our version of what a house of memories means to us. Each artist renders their 'house' in a unique fashion, whether it be a steaming structure bursting at the seams, travels along the train tracks linking destinations, a 'transparent' house sketched in white chalk, or a miniature mud city of vivid colors.

This is a descriptive excerpt from the notecard written by Moeuhane Sandalwood:

"The only way back in life is paved by memories",
writes Almut Brunswick. Together with Lilia Artis, Haveit Neox and Moeuhane
Sandalwood she went on this backtrack, to revive memories of a distant or
recent past. The challenge the four artists set themselves was to dig deep into
their individual experiences and come up with their very own section of
"The House of Memories".

Although the installation is much more a stretched landscape
than a building, the "House" is the common theme taken up and
transformed by each artist in his or her section of Artwood Grounds. Be it
colorful, in retro-style, somber or in screeching blackboard-chalk, the four
artists created intriguing installations along the tracks of the memory-train.

In "Tracks of Life" Almut Brunswick takes us on a
journey through our past - with "crossings and detours, easy cruising and
burdensome passages". Lilia Artis depicts the constant flow of memories
that build up through a lifetime in "The Past is not Past is not
Past...". Haveit Neox has made the mud domes of his childhood playground
accessible for spectators in "the backyard". And Moeuhane Sandalwood
lets us relive the chills of "The Shadow of a Nightmare past". (see
individual notecards at the end).

The exhibits are immersive and some are interactive - so
make sure to walk instead of fly - and to enter and touch instead of just cam.

Lilia Artis' gem-like build, "The Past is not Past is not Past" is in the center of this photo.

To the left is a square station by Almut Brunswick, at the end of her line. She built

4 memory stations between which run the functional trams. My dome installation is at far left,

and Moeuhane Sandalwood's house is in the distance in the right of the above image.

The setting is provided by Lilia Artis (groundtextures,
terraforming) and Moeuhane Sandalwood (terraforming). Almut Brunswick connected
the four individual installations with a memory-train - which she built
(including all stations) and scripted. Please set Windlight to
"ShadowSet".

Friday, July 19, 2013

Many years ago, I
remember seeing an ancient, frail man, being helped into the shallow end of the
pool by an assistant. The extreme delicacy of his health gently wrapped around
his skeletal frame, and the deliberate slowness in which he was lowered into
the water, was the essence of grace. Hi pale skin soaked up the bright sunlight
from the glass walls, and a smile came over his face as the water displaced
gravity. This image remains in my head. I made a multi-colored clay sculpture
based on the old man for an exhibit in Real Life, then recently, photographed my
sculpture to bring into Second Life. I also included other scenes that I've sculpted and painted over the years, including a clay town which I portray as human culture burning itself into the soil. Having been one of the artists invited to
display at the Galerie des Machines in Paris 1900, I felt this theme would work
well for the large room I was offered.

The man being
dipped into the water takes on a secondary related story for my installation. The
idea of one’s life coming close to the end is symbolized with the bath. The
water is not pristine and clean, it is acidic, glowing unnaturally, and is contained
within polluted walls. The bath here
represents our dying oceans, the fragile state of the man is the weakening life
in the seas. The room is flooded with light. The smoggy air is hot to breath,
and we see two centaur angels ready to carry the dead to the next world. At its
last breath, each angel will be followed by their armies to carry the dead
planet to its burial ground: the sun.

Saturday, July 13, 2013

Sivi Kelberry and Akilae Gant projected my film “Lost
Alphabet of La Città Perduta” onto the interior surfaces of their spherical
theater high above the town of Città Perduta for 24 hours.

Scene from the movie: "La Lune de la Ville Perdue"

It was presented as a farewell event to my installation
“Lost Alphabet” at La Città Perduta. After which, the work gravitated into the
sky, and beyond, in the direction of the moon. I created a story for the
filming of this event, where the spherical theater becomes the moon. The name of the movie is: "La Lune de la Ville Perdue".

Please scroll down to see the names of the people who appear in the film.

………………………………………………………..

SYNOPSIS OF STORY in English:

Recent discoveries reveal that the moon is not made of
cheese. Rather, it is a metal so unusual, that it doesn’t even figure onto the
Periodic Table of Elements. Its main characteristic is the absorption of
emotions, of place, of history. The thoughts
and experiences of explorers to the moon are projected throughout this metal’s
surfaces inside the grand hollow of the moon. The luminous substance has such a
strong gravitational pull, that many individuals, and even entire village
populations, have been lifted into its embrace.

Wednesday, July 3, 2013

Lost Alphabet has been held over for one more week. This was
really exciting news for me, because not only have Akilae and Sivi extended the
installation one more week, they have also made plans for an event the day
before tear down. If my internet connection cooperates, I plan to do a film
about the event. Sivi and Akilae have something very special beginning this Friday, July 5, at 1 pm SLT. Inside a gigantic cinema sphere, the visitor will be emersed into the film which tells the story of Lost Alphabet. Click on your media button on arrival, and the sphere will dip you into the story. The event will last for 24 hours coming to a close at 1 pm Saturday, July 6.

Bethlise Lorgsval composed a beautiful film following the
entire story of Lost Alphabet. She reads the text in French, accompanied by
marvelous views of La Città Perduta. I love listening to her voice as she
narrates the chapters. It sounds very musical to me.

Wednesday, June 19, 2013

It seems only a couple weeks ago that I set up my story “Lost
Alphabet” in the city of La Citta Perduta. But in fact, it’s been three months!
It was wonderful to be a part of Sivi Kelberry’s and Akilae Gant’s beautifully
built sim. As I get ready to bid farewell to what was a most enjoyable project,
I made a film of the story that takes the viewer on a tour of the installation.
The picture above is an excerpt from the movie.

Akilae and Sivi have had many installations in their La
Citta Perduta sim (Lost Town). I count myself most fortunate to have been a
participant, and there will be others following mine. It’s a good idea to take
a landmark if you visit La Citta Perduta (the name of the sim is ‘Land of Glory’).
You are guaranteed a new look and story within the city. Just before my
installation, was one by Yooma Mayo. Towering mechanical elephants walked
through the city, their legs rising many stories high, and enormous acrobats
with the most graceful prim sculpting ventured across the sky on tight ropes
suspended from elephant to elephant. Only Sivi and Akilae know what is next in
the future for La Citta Perduta. As for me, I am most curious to see what the
futureS bring to this city that I adore!

Please scroll down for previous posts for information about “Lost
Alphabet”.

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

When Rowan Derryth invited me to build the city for A Rusted
Development, I had no idea its proposed run of 2 or 3 months would be extended
into a little over a year! Talented artists filled the city with their amazing creations (please see detailed info about this in my entries about A Rusted Development earlier in this blog). But this weekend (June 9 and 10),
our time is up, and the exhibit must be removed to make room for the next
artist.

Ziki Questi, one of the artists who set up her installation
(of scripted landscape art which falls from the sky, or decomposes upon a
visitor’s approach) within the Rusted Development city, informed me yesterday
that a couple scenes from the show are included in episode 7 of the Drax Files.
If you haven’t seen this series, I suggest watching the episodes for well-presented
information about Second Life. Each episode takes a theme, and Rusted
Development was fortunate to figure into the series.

Click HERE (or the line above) to watch the film. A Rusted Development is seen
toward the early part of the film between 1:02 and 1:23. That’s a FULL 21
seconds! Hope you enjoy it. And please make sure to watch the other episodes
too, they are all fun and of fine quality.

My heartfelt thanks to Rowan Derryth and all the incredible artists who participated with their outrageously creative imaginations.

Friday, March 29, 2013

More details about my installation at La Citta Perduta is mentioned in previous posts. Here, you can see the picture book with all 13 chapters. Clicking on each page below will enlarge it a little more for easier reading. (French and Italian translations are available at the installation). But to really experience the story with all its animation, space, and color effects, you need to fly into the 3D installation at La Citta Perduta!

Reviews and Film are listed at the bottom of this entry.

I am very grateful to the people below who have posted information about my exhibit, and to the people who let me know about the posts! Please check out these reviews, photos, and film.

By Sivi Kelberry. This suite of images created by Sivi follows the story faithfully. With her remarkably artistic eye, each of the filmmaker's picture imparts a rich sense emotion. Click to watch the film here.

By Larkworthy Antfarm. A wonderfully colorful rendition of the build. Larkworthy works in layering for an exciting viewpoint of the installation: Click to watch the film here.

By Florentine Writer. A group of 5 films, accompanied by music, with some dramatic angles. Each film focuses predominantly on one area at a time. Click to watch the films here.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

Sivi Kelberry and Akilae Gant built the remarkable
Lost Town (Città Perduta), and tonight (Saturday, Mar 23) an extraordinary event
was staged above the roof of the Palazzo. The fabulous musical entertainment of
REIS and Ald Alter was choreographed around the 13 chapters of LOST ALPHABET. Sivi
had placed a giant sphere around the welcoming area with panoramic views to the
city below. The show began as the sphere blossomed into exquisite textures. The
multiple layers and effects animated the scene with masterful timing. The colorful
surrounds within this contained environment flowed with the music and followed
the story chapter by chapter as guests danced on the celestial glass floor. It
was breathtaking to hear the beautiful voice of Reis and the music of Ald; a
finely matched duo. I know I wasn’t the only person who got up in real life to
move with the music, often of Brazilian rhythm and other times of lingering
moods. People really seemed to be appreciating this spectacle as the special
treat it was. Lots of friends were greeting each other in the festive ambiance
and enjoying their enthusiastic and fun hosts, Akilae and Sivi. I believe it
lasted nearly two hours, and I still wanted more. In the last scene, Sivi was
able to somehow brilliantly plan a suggestion of the tower from chapter 13 with
its flying pages swirling around its girth, while the music courted the theme. With
eyes glued to the screen, the finale produced the kind of moment that marks
memory. None of my pictures captured the magic of the ensemble, but I am
posting a couple anyway (from the last scene) for a glimpse into a most special night.

If you were not able to attend this event, I hope you can
still come by to see the installation “Lost Alphabet”. The information is in
the previous post below. Please come to visit.

Monday, March 18, 2013

The bell tower struck nine pm. The woman rubbed her eyes in
disbelief, for suddenly, the writing on the page she was reading simply
disappeared. The page was blank. She turned the next page and the next, then
flipped wildly through the book, yet the same was true for every part of it.
The whole town was experiencing the same phenomenon, and this stroke of magic
would change everyone’s life forever.

Please come discover the most curious circumstances that la
Citta Perduta (Lost Town) encounters in this full sim story. The beautiful
Mediterranean village built by Akilae Gant and Sivi Kelberry is host to Haveit
Neox’ story, a 2,500 prim-build that scatters his visual message across the map.
You cannot predict what you will find around any corner. Accompanied by 13 brief
‘chapters’, the story suggests a modern day fable in an old world setting.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Work on "The Lost Alphabet" is nearing completion. I am very grateful for the one week extension. The opening will therefore be one week later than mentioned below. It is presently set for March 23 2013 which is a Saturday. I will be posting the name of the sim near opening date. Below is the description of the build.

LOST ALPHABET
(L’Alphabeto Perduto)

The bell tower struck
nine pm. The woman rubbed her eyes in disbelief, for suddenly, the writing on
the page she was reading simply disappeared. The page was blank. She turned the
next page and the next, then flipped wildly through the book, yet the same was
true for every part of it. Her husband, downstairs on the computer watched as
his word document went blank. There was no place to navigate his files nor to
click off the blank window. In fact, all throughout this Mediterranean town,
every citizen was experiencing the same phenomenon. No one slept, and within an
hour, the news surfaced that the town was the victim of an alphabetic plague. The
virus appeared to favor paper pages and computer screens, throwing letters off
into the air, or terribly distorting them. With the loss of so much vital and
practical information, not only could the town no longer function properly, but
the extraordinary strangeness of the situation scared the public into believing
it was a curse. After burning books and computers in pyres to prevent the virus
from spreading, the people fled.

But the town is
not vacant. There remains behind a less favored
public: the homeless living in the sewers beneath the streets, the poor who had
no means to leave, the outcasts who would not be welcome in a new town, and the
adventurous types among whom count many artists.

These citizens
spread throughout the town, into its grocery stores, clothing stores, pastry
shops, pet shops, artisan shops, and into its vacant apartments. They plant vegetable gardens in the streets
and free the animals. They hang paintings on exterior walls. They move all
manner of furnishings outside to the streets where they belong. Under the sky.

Cut off from the
outside world, the new society must find a substitute for the vulnerable
alphabet. Finding no legible books or manuals, song becomes the mode of storing
information.

They establish
the School of Song. The first community project is to construct towering guitar
fret boards rising many stories high from key buildings in the town. The
buildings themselves, which are hollow structures after all, become in essence
the body of the guitar: the acoustic soundboard. Maidens spin the heavy chords
onto the ‘guitars’, and when plucked, the music reverberates clearly throughout
each neighborhood. The streets and establishments bloom in carnival, with acrobatics,
dramas and farces telling the story of their town.

Thursday, February 28, 2013

The full sim art presentation that I mentioned below in a
couple previous posts, is making good progress. My calendar is filled up to the
brim each day with work to complete for the installation. For the past couple
months, I’ve written down ideas and descriptions for my project, built along
those lines, but as each day comes closer to the opening date on March 16
(Saturday), the obsession to create grows. I’ve been a tourist of the sim up
until now, but presently, I’m beginning to feel more like an inhabitant.

When the owners of the sim give me the word, I’ll make a
formal announcement with the location, time, and description of the tale I have
fashioned to fit the site.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

The base along the cliff-side walls of Medusa Locks has had a
long history of changes. Lacking romanticism, the original structure along the
cliff’s bottom was a public restroom. A little space furnished with some of the best grungy
toilets and sinks I could find. Not long afterwards, the little room was
expanded into a larger restroom with a sizable floor. Ironically, the less
than tidy space took a remarkable transformation as this little jut of land
became increasingly developed. What was once the fringe of the neighborhood
suddenly became central. The bathroom expanded yet again to become a Visitor
Center.

That change occurred due to a question my friend Lilia Artis had asked me one day: Why did I have the Visitor Center toward the edge of the sim, when the Paper
Tower was not only directly in the middle of the sim, but afforded the best
views over the entire city. I took her advice and moved the Center high up in
the Paper Tower where it remains to this day. Shortly after the Visitor Center vacated the Medusa Locks neighborhood, it wasn't long before the other builds on the jut of land known as Darkrodin Pier also
disappeared. For a brief time, a couple of colorful booths offering free fish
took up the space. Bees and ants attracted to the odors of fish were somewhat reminiscent
of buzzing sounds from the old days of the original restroom. By the way, only a bit of the first
tiled wall, and a cat in the window remain today from that first structure.

I recently watched a movie called Darshan. It is a spiritual
movie, and shot with fine cinematography. I found it a remarkable film in many respects,
from its technique to the story, and thoroughly enjoyed the settings in India.
Benares (Varanasi) is one of those special sites among human landscapes that
really sticks out. In Benares, one purifies oneself in the river Ganges where
city and nature merge, where life and death share the bustling shore. In Second
Life where gatherings of people are uncommon (3 or 4 avatars in one area
is considered a hopping place), I felt that if I wanted to create a very modest
interpretation of a purifying ground, the emphasis would need to be on
fragments of life, and representations of death. It is a project that will grow
through time, as I become more familiar with its spiritual potential. Beneath
what was once the bathroom, once the Visitor Center, once the Fish Market,
rises the flat quai of libations. Fires burn on the quai pavement in reference
to the cremations along the Ganges. But what I choose to position at the water’s
edge is a question. For now, there are stretchers of art slanting down the
stairs to the river, as if they were bodies awaiting the fire, or souls adrift
on the next current.

Monday, January 21, 2013

Yesterday, Rowan Derryth gave a tour of ‘A Rusted
Development’ which is on the LEA1 sim. She is the curator who selected the
artists to fill the spaces in the full sim city I’d built for this exhibit. It
was slated to stand for about 2 months, but through welcomed extensions, it has
been up for 9 months. I believe it’s time has come however, and at the end of
this month it is due to come down.

Rowan leads around 25 visitors along the exhibit

Rowan’s ability to engage an audience is punctuated with her
well organized mind. It’s fun and instructive. She gave the tour, which even in
extreme lag produced by the large attendance of avatars, lasted exactly one
hour. Just right for Second Life. But I will let her tell you the details when
she posts the transcription. I plan to post a link.

Friday, January 11, 2013

The exhibit I’m preparing for March (see Dec 8 2012 entry further down
this blog for info) continues to make progress. Last night, I temporarily rezzed the
chorus on site to see how the textures and spacing fit. The bluish default windlight
setting is quite fabulous, but I also wanted to see how it looked on Midnight
setting. Evidently, the creators of the
building that will house my chorus has an orange light feature inside.
It gave these wonderful ochre tones. Until March, my work schedule will be full
creating the parts for this exhibit.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The North Wing Gallery is behind the photographer in this shot. But the expanded courtyard and the new tree are clearly visible.

The Studio of Builds Museum gets quite a makeover. For the
past week, I’ve been doing remodeling of both the North Wing Gallery and Cranberry
Dock Courtyard. Around the seam of 2012 to2013, the courtyard was expanded
threefold in area. An important consideration while remodeling is to use fewer
textures so that the court and the space inside the North Wing are not
confusing to the eye. There was a lot of simplifying to consider. As I made progress, it became evident that I would have
to address the small tower that was part of the original build from June of
2010. I hate removing historical features, but for a clean sweep of the eye, I
made the sacrifice. There are still several areas of the old 2010 build
remaining in other parts of the museum complex, but increasingly, a modern air
dominates. The old stone bridge over the river was also removed along with many
trees. But a gain to the landscape showed itself in the two gorgeous new
additions I bought from the Zen Island sim. One is a cluster of bamboo, and the
second is one of the most beautiful trees I’ve seen in Second Life. Its
texturing and light bark complement the area perfectly. Large pods hang down from the red flower laden branches. Please come for a visit. When in Second Life, go to my PICKS from my profile, and click on MY MUSEUM.

Currently showing at the galleries of the museum:

North Wing Gallery: Paintings by Fiona Leitner.

Feathered Muse Pavilion: Small temporary exhibit of the works by Hypatia
Pickens.